Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
17 December 2009
16:4535031#1
As some of you know, I have a fairly extensive (and expensive!) collection of Robertson's Golly badges - you're not allowed to call them Golliwogs any more for fear of starting race riots across the land - and frequently trawl eBay for additions to the collection. There are plenty of modern-day 'tribute' Golly badges available, for example you can get them in the colours of almost every football league club, with more being produced all the time. Nice for those that want them, but I just collect the original Robertson's badges.
Today, whilst trawling through the pages of eBay listings looking for Golly badge bargains, I found a BNP Golly badge. Is this the IQ of the average BNP member, or just delicious irony from someone with a really dry sense of humour? I think we should be told.........
True friends stab you in the front.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
17 December 2009
17:5635041#2
there is a shop in deal that does excellent gollies amongst other wonderful toys.
children still love their gollies.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
17 December 2009
18:2035046#3
I`ve got a 1969 book here by Enid Blyton. The Three Naughty Golliwogs. Am I to keep this book in complete secrecy, or have a book binder edit the title, or burn it like the Germans had to because the nazi`s decreed it? It`s a British book, by a British author and this is Britain. So what`s the problem? I`m not racist, but I am British, with half Irish in me.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
17 December 2009
18:4335049#4
There has to be freedom of expression up to and not beyond the point of incitement. I haven't a racist bone in my body - as others on here will probably testify!! - but I do have a book, a rather unpleasant book, incidentally, called something like Race and the British. I have the book not because I like it or because I am looking for something to confirm prejudice, but because it matters than we know other peoples points of view. I bought it from a charity shop because I wanted to see how other people thought. I nearly bought Mein Kampf from the same shop for the same reason, but I didn't have enough money on me. I would not have bought it because I am a nazi but because it matters that I have the opportunity to read what others, different to me, think.
Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
17 December 2009
19:1935051#5
Richmal Crompton's William and the Nasties (1935) is another one of these (cough, ahem, it didn't happen) stories. It's one of the Just William stories and shows William and his gang tormenting an old Jewish shopkeeper out of his house and business. Whether or not it was supposed to be a satire, or was just naively written, I have no idea. However, it's been conspicuously absent in all printings from the last twenty years or so.
I have a German paperback copy of Mein Kampf somewhere - I bought it in a street market in Belgium a few years ago for a couple of quid. I thought it was a bargain, until I realised it was probably one of the most widely distributed books in Europe! I've got seven parts of the original English weekly serialised publication of it from the early thirties. By goodness, it's a turgid read.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
17 December 2009
19:4635055#6
I have some spiritualist freinds who slag Richard Dawkins off, yet none of them have read any of his books. Perhaps they could take a lesson from Bern above, and read one first even if it`s not to their liking. I have read the bible.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
17 December 2009
20:1335057#7
I understand not promoting racism - it's part of an ethos I fully subscribe to, that of not demeaning anyone on the grounds of colour or creed; in my book, everyone is entitled to respect for private and personal beliefs. That said, that includes those such as myself whose ethnic descent is from the British Isles - I'm 100% White Anglo Saxon Protestant, born and raised in the UK (with the exception of six years in the 60s when the old man was posted to RAF Germany). I have to say that I find it offensive that I have to mind my language in order to demonstrate my belief in racial equality: I would never use the term 'nigger' against a black man because that goes against my own beliefs in the first place, but I do resent the fact that in the new remake of The Dambusters, the name of Guy Gibson's pet Labrador (Nigger) cannot be used - yes, the word is offensive in the modern context, but it surely shows how Britain has evolved since the 1940s. Likewise, Agatha Christe's book 'Ten Little Niggers' has been renamed 'Ten Little Indians' in modern reprints and for the movie that was made in the 50s/60s.
Why do we have to pussyfoot around ethnic minorities in such a wet and woolly manner? Are we not entrusted to use our own judgement calls with regard to not offending those who happen to differ from us in skin tone? It brings me back to my original point about Robertson's Golly badges - just after the turn of this century some woolly-headed liberal in Robertson's decided that it was no longer acceptable in modern Britain to continue with the marketing of their jams and marmalades by using the Golly emblem. This despite the fact that the Golly badge had been produced for decades as a succesful and iconic emblem; not once in the entire history of the Golly production run do I ever recall race riots brought on by these inoffensive, well-made badges. Racism has nothing to do with toys or similar - it's a mindset among the small-minded and ignorant, and that's where the nonsense spouted about being careful to not mention offensive words where they may be construed as inciteful has missed the point: any word or phrase taken out of context may be construed as offensive or inciteful, and that includes words or phrases beyond the racism topic.
It's not going to happen because too many cretins in London have been in charge for too long, but our society is crippled by Political Correctness taken beyond the good intentions it must have all started from. I'm not for a minute suggesting that we should go back to the days of 'Love Thy Neighbour', but surely we should all be entrusted with the basic human right of knowing what is and what isn't offensive, and thus be entrusted to use sensitive words in an appropriate manner instead of everything being legislated for?
True friends stab you in the front.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
17 December 2009
20:2435062#8
interesting post here, the subject of offence is purely a personal one.
i am sure that most of us are offended by something on a daily basis, we just get over it and move on.
with words "golly whatsit" is deemed offensive, yet we can still purchase a coconut comestible under the title of "macaroon".
a little bit concerned about phils reading matter though, if he starts annexing the sudetenland, we will know where he got the idea from.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
17 December 2009
20:5535066#9
You`ve hit the nail on the head there Andy, a great piece. It`s those do gooder`s again who cause most of the trouble. I`m not racialist either, but I object strongly to being told what I`m not allowed to say in my own country, particularly after all these years of being brought up on it. Why was Bernard Manning so popular? Anti racialists hated him, yet unknowingly, they were the very one`s who gave him his popularity!
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
17 December 2009
22:0235074#10
some interesting posts, coulfdnt see why golliwogs went but there u go
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
20 December 2009
17:2035330#11
Golliwogs haven`t gone Kieth. You can buy them anywhere. Pop on the internet and find many sellers, including of course, internationally recognised Ebay. Better still, look round the local shops, I have seen them in Deal. I would buy one just to spite those dogooders!
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
20 December 2009
22:2335357#12
Offence is clearly about intent. Obviously collecting badges from jars of marmalade is not racist, however the very conception of Golliwogs was.
People just can't handle the change or perception of others, it leads us to question ourselves, which we do not like, and results in us blaming someone/thing else. Enid Blyton was racist(by our descriptors), but then so where most of her society around her. The gollywogs were the villians and these semiotics can't be denied...and so we change things a bit, by replacing them with Goblins...BIG DEAL. Yes the toys are quite charming, I'd buy one for my child, but twin that with stories of them coming out of the forest to nick stuff and make the association with the fact they are based on racially derogatory icons then you have something more sinister.
I swear all the time, but why do I not swear here or around people that do not know me? Because some people find it offensive, which is quite clearly more absurd than taking offense in an object that transcends the abtract of language. Speak to people that get/got called gollywogs at school then preach about the word or object being inoffensive. Context is obviously everything, but the point is we have got sufficient context to know this isn't inoffensive, in the same way I don't swear all day long.
Dogooders, what a terrible group of people. Agreed with the best of intentions these people sometimes do more harm than good, but at least the right intent is there.
20 December 2009
23:0635361#13
Stonkingly good post, DT1. Spot on - it's all about context. What is the alternative to do-gooders by the way? Do-badders?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
20 December 2009
23:1035363#14
i must admit that i am always confused by the term "do gooders", it came to fruition back in the seventies.
does it apply to the people,, mentioned by our phil in another thread that doled out free cups of tea to stranded motorists on frozen dover yesterday?
did mother teresa of calcutta get lumbered with the title?
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
21 December 2009
00:1435367#15
Mother Teresa...don't get me started; Me, Me ,Me!
21 December 2009
10:0535387#16
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
21 December 2009
11:3635392#17
I'd like to echo Bern's sentiments, DT1 - a stonkingly good post. What I like most about it is that you actually perfectly illustrate my original point about context - you don't swear on here because it's offensive. And - politicians please take note - you do it without the need for legislation telling you not to do it, exactly as adults should behave.
Dear Prime Minister................
True friends stab you in the front.
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
23 December 2009
08:2635482#18
very interesting, as iv stated before its about how people can be offended without others even realising, so has to be watched
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 December 2009
11:1335495#19
we all get offended by something every day of our lives, those who take everything personally should get a grip and just get on with life, like the majority do.
23 December 2009
15:3135511#20
There is a sweet little golli doll in the BHF shop near the 8 Bells..............for those who collect, mentioning no names........
